Music News

Katy Perry will not be attending the Grammys.
The 31-year-old pop star will be skipping the prestigious awards show on Monday (15.02.16), instead choosing to watch it in her pyjamas "eating matzo ball soup".
However, Katy is hosting her own alternative party in Downtown Los Angeles on Saturday evening (13.02.16) music creatives and no publicists or managers are on the guest list.
Speaking to the New York Times, she said: "The party is for artists, producers and songwriters. And it's a mixture of new and familiar artists, a combination of the past two years' Grammy nominees and also [acts] from the Spotify Discover playlist. It's Kacey Musgraves, Karen O, Miguel, Tove Lo, Shirley Manson, Max Martin. Then up-and-coming songwriters like Blood Pop and Bonnie McKee all under the same roof as Diane Warren. In some ways, I'm trying to start the Met Ball of music."
The 'Fireworks' singer has also revealed she has tentatively started work on her next album and admits she's "taking a little" time to "evolve" before she starts laying down tracks.
She said: "I'm in the research and development phase. I've been going at it for eight or nine years in the spotlight, and then before that there's that decade of hustle that never gets recognised but still shows up in your wrinkles. So right now I'm taking a little time. I don't want to jump on any trends. I just need to evolve. I do my records in a more traditional way, where the cycle is three years, so that once I start writing them, I know exactly where I'll be in spring of 2018. That can get a little bit like, 'Ugh.' I need a little bit more freedom, especially when I've been doing it for this long."

Elton John has "so much more to do".
The 'Rocket Man' hitmaker insists he is nowhere near finished with music yet and isn't worried about what others think about him as he knows he is a "good musician, good writer and good artist".
He said: "I'm not finished yet! I'm more interested in keeping going. I have so much more to do. I'm not nostalgic. I don't think about my place in music history at all. I know my own worth as a musician. And if I know that I'm a good musician and a good writer and a good artist, that's all that matters to me.
"It's up to others to judge me but I know the piano playing on my new record is pretty f***ing special! You have to keep trying to improve as you get older. Look at Leonard Cohen. That comeback at 75 was astonishing."
And the 68-year-old singer also revealed he continued volunteering in a record shop in Soho, London even when he started to find fame as he was just so "fascinated by what people would buy".
He added to The Sun newspaper: "Even in 1970 when I started to make it, I used to go to Musicland in Berwick Street and work on a Saturday for nothing. I was fascinated by what people would buy and I just loved it. It was the job I might have done."

Jade Thirlwall used to sing with Jamie Lambert from Collabro.
The Little Mix singer, 23, grew up in South Shields near Newcastle upon Tyne, north England, and long before she joined the international girl group, Jade used to perform with Jamie and ended up becoming a big fan of the operatic boy band.
Tom Redgrave exclusively told BANG Showbiz: "Jamie and Jade are from the same place, South Shields, and they used to sing together when they were younger, so they have always known each other, which is nice.
"When we started doing well, through Jamie's friendship with her, she became a fan."
Over the years, Jade has been a huge supporter of the group - which also includes Matt Pagan, Michael Auger and Richard Hadfield - particularly when they did a live cover performance of 'I'll Be There For You' at the iconic London Palladium.
Jamie previously shared: "Our album 'Act Two' is full of these huge key changes and really big songs and suddenly it gets totally stripped back. At the Palladium, Jade from Little Mix was in the audience and we do a really slow version of the song and it's really about harmonies and beauty.
"We did 'So no-one told you life was gonna be this way" and then Jade went [token Friends claps] and it was incredibly off-putting and it got to such a famous moment that by the end of the tour the whole orchestra did it. What they didn't realise was we all had our in-ears in and they have little microphones so I almost jumped off the piano because I was so frightened."

Hozier has teamed up with Saoirse Ronan to raise awareness of domestic violence.
The 25-year-old singer/songwriter is "honoured" to have the Oscar-nominated actress in his music video for his song 'Cherry Wine', in which she depicts a woman having to deal with a physically abusive relationship.
Discussing the artistic project, he said: "Domestic violence is an ongoing issue in our society, the statistics of which are shocking and the effects of which damage whole families, communities and span generations. With the song 'Cherry Wine', I tried to get across the difficulty of coming to terms with and facing up to domestic violence and the dynamic of an abusive relationship. I'm honoured to be joined by Saoirse Ronan, Dearbhla Walsh and Moe Dunford in spreading awareness on this issue."
And Saoirse hopes the video will "shine light on the issue" and was also thrilled to work with the Irish musician.
She said: "I am equally honoured to join Hozier to create awareness for the #FaceUpToDomesticViolence campaign with the release of 'Cherry Wine' as a charity single. The song has always been one of my favourite tracks on his album. I hope through the video and song we can shine light on the issue and complexity of domestic abuse and in doing so help those caught up in the cycle of domestic violence."
'Cherry Wine' - taken from Hozier's 2014 self-titled debut LP - was written from the male perspective of an abuse suffer.
The video will premiere on Valentine's Day (14.02.16) this weekend. Proceeds from the single sales will benefit domestic abuse charities worldwide including Women's Aid in the UK.

A Kanye West fan predicted his new album title 'The Life of Pablo' and is waiting to be rewarded with a pair of Yeezy sneakers.
Dante Holley, 20, managed to work out the title from lyrics the single 'No More Parties in LA' and now he's patiently waiting to be rewarded with the footwear which Kanye promised anyone who could guess the name of his LP.
Revealing how he worked out the name, Dante told BBC's Newsbeat: "He was talking about how he felt like Pablo when he was working on his shoes, he felt like Pablo when he was on the news. I thought either he's talking about Pablo Escobar or Pablo Picasso. So I just thought 'The Life of Pablo'."
Recalling the moment the title was revealed, Dante - who is from New Jersey and a budding rapper-and-music producer with HW4L Records - said: "My phone started ringing. I guessed Kanye had announced the title and it was 'The Life of Pablo'. People kept on saying, 'You won, you won.' It was crazy. I never would have expected it."
The 'All Day' rapper wrote on Twitter earlier this week that he would give anyone who guessed his album title correctly a pair of Yeezys and a ticket to his Season 3 fashion show, which takes place in New York today (11.02.16).
The hip hop superstar tweeted: "@studio /final verses /new album title T.L.O.P ... That's the new album anybody who can figure out the title gets tickets to Season 3 and free Yeezys (sic)"
And although Dante is yet to hear from Kanye or his management, he has plans to run across the whole of America in the highly sought-after footwear to raise money for a worthy cause.
He said: "I'm going to run across the whole country in these Yeezys and do it for charity.

Dame Shirley Bassey, Elvis Costello & The Imposters and Will Young will perform at Henley Festival 2016.
The news follows the announcement that Sir Elton John will open the music extravaganza by performing on the event's floating stage on July 6.
Bassey will be teaming up with Brit Award-winning vocal group BLAKE on Saturday July 9 and music legend Elvis Costello & The Imposters will provide the entertainment on July 7.
The following night sees classical Welsh Opera singer Bryn Terfel performing with the Welsh National Opera Orchestra.
And closing the week of world class entertainment is pop singer Will Young who will bring the festivities to a close on July 10.
The 'Leave Right Now' hitmaker can't wait to headline the festival and is thrilled he has top billing on one of the nights just like his hero Elton.
Of his closing slot, he said: "I'm really very excited to be closing Henley Festival on the Sunday night. I had such fun playing there last time, it's such a beautiful setting on the banks of the river Thames, not to mention headlining alongside one of my favourite people, Sir Elton John."
One further headliner is to be announced for Saturday July 9.
Tickets go on sale on February 25 at 10am.
Go to Henley-festival.co.uk for more information.

Little Mix plan on getting Rihanna drunk at the BRITs so she'll agree to collaborate with them.
The girl group - who have two nominations for British Single and British Artist Video of the Year for their hit 'Black Magic' - are desperate to work with the R&B superstar and singers Perrie Edwards and Jade Thirlwall have a cunning plan to ply the Bajan beauty with booze so she'll sing on a track with them.
Jade, 23, revealed the plan worked with dance duo Sigma, who now want to work with the foursome after sharing some drinks with them.
Perrie, 22, gushed: "Could you imagine if we just went up to Rihanna and were like, 'Do you fancy doing a tune with us?' That would be amazing."
Remembering how the girls cornered Sigma, Jade told the Daily Star newspaper: "It's better when they are drunk. I was drunk talking to Sigma and they would love to work with us soon."
And bandmate Jesy Nelson - who is engaged to Rixton's Jake Roche - agreed to the plan, she added: "That's sick. That's what we need to do."
However, they might have a big job on their hands trying to get time with RiRi, as when they were on 'The X Factor' in 2012 with the R&B superstar her management banned anyone from speaking to her.
Leigh-Anne Pinnock, 24, said: "Her management wouldn't let anybody meet her, but she walked past me and said, 'Your hair is awesome!' This was when I had my head half-shaved, which I hated, so it cheered me up."
Little Mix and Rihanna are both set to perform at the BRIT Awards 2016 with MasterCard at The O2 in London on February 24.

Gwen Stefani is to make music history by filming the first music video live at the Grammys.
The 46-year-old singer will be debuting the clip for her solo single 'Make Me Like You' during a Grammys commercial break on Monday (15.02.16).
Posting on Instagram, she revealed: "This is big. I'm going to be in the first LIVE music video on a #GRAMMYs commercial break with @Target! #MoreMusic (sic)"
The forthcoming track will feature on Gwen's upcoming new solo LP 'This Is What the Truth Feels Like...' due out later this year.
Earlier this week, the No Doubt star revealed the tracklisting on a handwritten note, which she photographed and posted online.
Titles include 'Misery', 'Make me Feel Ill', 'Asking 4 It' and 'Truth' and the song names hint that Gwen will open up about her heartbreak after divorcing ex-husband Gavin Rossdale, who she split from in 2015 and with whom she has three sons, Kingston, nine, Zuma, seven, and 23-month-old Apollo with.
Gwen previously admitted she was in a "phase of forgiveness" when she penned the song 'Used To Love You', which is featured on the forthcoming record.
She said: "When I wrote the song, I was sort of in a phase of forgiveness. In a way, I'm getting to this point now, and all the songs up to that point were like, 'Rah, I'm like so upset and so crazy.'
"Everybody knows, pretty much, what happened to me. I got a divorce, which completely was not in the plan at all. For me, it purely wasn't and [it was] a shock and horrible, a crazy explosion in my life."

Sir Paul McCartney has created the first ever audio Mojis.
The former Beatles legend has collaborated with video conferencing app Skype for a special range of animated love-themed audio Mojis - which are short animated clips that you can use during Skype chats - made especially for Valentine's Day on Sunday (14.02.16).
Paul, 73, found the whole creative process "challenging" as he had to try and express each emotion within seconds, but said it gave him "great practice" in the studio.
He said: "It turned out to be a great laugh at the same time as challenging because you suddenly realise you've got to compress a musical interpretation of an expression into less than five seconds. It was like doing a huge crossword puzzle and coming up with all these solutions. And at the same time it was musical so it was great practice for me in the studio."
The 'Live and Let Die' hitmaker used a variety of instruments including guitars, drums, a xylophone and his own voice and opted for an electronic sound with a "modern flavour".
He said: "I wanted it to sound sort of electronic so I wanted the signature to sound electronic rather than acoustic guitar, for instance. So I got the overall signature on the Moog in order to give it a modern flavour".
The Mojis are available to use on Skype now.